The Sin
by Reddish Yellow
Summary: When Sasuke told Sakura that she should live at the Uchiha house where he once lived with his family, Sakura had no choice but to accept his advice and live there with her small child. The place seemed very peaceful, that was until something started feeling out of place. Set after the forth Shinobi world war.
1. Chapter 1

The spring was almost over and summer was just around the corner. With the memory of spring, the great wedding of Naruto and Hinata became a happy event of Sakura's past life. And now she was again indulged in her busy life at the hospital. That was until she realized, one day, that she'd been feeling strange lately. Most of the time, she just felt like resting even though she wasn't feeling exhausted and when she arrived home she became very sick.

At night her body ached all over. Initially, she thought that it may be because of how much she strained herself at the hospital. But that was soon forgotten when the first time she threw up and it was at the hospital nonetheless. 'At least she was able to reach the restroom on time' she had thought. And at that moment something clicked in her exhausted brain.

As soon as she confirmed that she was stable again and didn't feel like vomiting anymore, she rushed towards one of the hospital room where some instruments for checking sick villagers were stored. Those instruments were from the new stock. Even though, she felt guilty of using the new ones but she had no other choice, considering that the other rooms where she could get what she was searching for, there would be doctors whom would want to know about everything that was going on with her personal life. And she would be much more uncomfortable than she already was in her current situation.

Soon, she found what she was looking for, a pregnancy tester. Even though, it was so much absurd to think that she would be pregnant considering that she had not even kissed anyone yet. She wasn't even intimate with anyone, just as she thought that the day when Sasuke was with her alone by the river. Although, he had not even dared to touch her but his words and presence were enough to make her blush madly.

Now she had found the tester. And she found out the condition she was going through. She wasn't wrong when she thought, that she should do that.

The first person she told was Shizune because she was the nearest person to reach whom she could put her trust into. Shizune was so shocked that she had thrown up the water she was drinking while standing beside the water cooler. Sakura didn't mind her reaction because she knew herself that it was the humblest reaction Shizune could give her. She had asked for some advice from the older medic nin because she didn't know what she should do. But Shizune was unable to give much of a better advice. In the end, Sakura knew that she had to do something on her own.

She thought about telling her parents but as the thought came, it seemed not such of a good idea. First her parents would be panicked as hell and then they won't have any better idea to give her if her nearest peer couldn't. She considered Ino, to which she was shocked herself because telling Ino means breaking out a ruckus in the entire leaf village. Maybe other villages as well, as she thought about Temari staying in leaf village for a while for God knows what reason.

In the end she decided that she had to leave the leaf village and search for the one person who had the most probability of being the father of the baby she was carrying. She was sure that if she told him, he'll be able to figure out what should be done with the situation. So she set out on the journey to track Sasuke after telling the 6th hokage her fake reason to visit the rain village for extraction of some herbs that only grew under a rainy climate. He was too lenient to ask about much detail considering the peace they had recently attained after the defection of Kaguya.

And it was the first step that led Sakura to a place that soon changed her life and beliefs.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura had gone to Sasuke and talked to him about the situation that had risen. It was very difficult for her to tell him but as Sasuke was as impatient as he had always been, when he tried to leave first when Sakura was unable to form a single word from her mouth, she gathered courage and told him in just one go, loud and clear that she was holding his generation's life. It was awkward enough to fidget in front of him and to say she was pregnant with his child was a thing that she was sure when she'll speak, would make her run away and hide her burning face. She was not really ready for this kind of situation just yet.

Sasuke didn't speak anything then, most probably shocked himself. But as that shock disappeared from his face, it was soon replaced by hesitation to look at Sakura in the eye. For that she was thankful enough because she herself didn't want him to look.

"Have you told others yet" He asked, his eyes still averted from her figure and looking at anything else other than Sakura.

"Besides Shizune, no..." She replied, "I didn't know what to do too. So I asked her for an advice. But she was unable to give any. After that, I thought I should tell you first. So beside you and me, only Shizune knows and she told me that she'll keep it a secret until I get to speak with you"

"Hmm" was all he replied, thinking over many things that should be done. At least that was what Sakura had the impression of.

She waited for him to speak. After a few moments, Sakura started to fear that maybe Sasuke was not happy and maybe it was a hindrance to him. Maybe he just wanted to tell Sakura that she should not have the baby. That thought made Sakura horrified. It was not strange if he really told her that, remembering the time when Sasuke almost killed Naruto in order to put all the human beings in eternal sleep so that he could make his own new world.

As many bloody images played in Sakura's mind from the fourth Shinobi world war, Sasuke started to speak again his eyes still looking somewhere else, "Sakura, you should stay here until the baby is born."

"Then what?" She asked fearing his next statement.

He looked at her panicked expressions and replied calmly," then you can go back to the village and tell everyone else."

As Sakura processed what Sasuke had just said, she took a sigh of relief.

It was Sakura's first false assumption that everything was going right.

After the successful delivery of a new member of Uchiha clan that was performed by Karin, Sasuke's former teammate, Sakura had felt so happy that she knew that this kind of happiness is something that not everyone had felt, as her eyes teared up when she was holding the delicate life in her hands. Karin had seen Sakura crying, to which she felt a bit embarrassed in front of the red head. Karin had said that she understood her, so she should feel comfortable around her.

For a day or two, Sakura had stayed where Sasuke was but soon Sasuke had to tell her that she should leave with the baby because he was planning to leave the place as well. Sakura had no choice but to comply with Sasuke. But before she left, Sakura had to ask one more thing.

"Sasuke," she said, when he was packing his belongings," when will you come back to the village?"

Sasuke turned around and looked at her,"Sakura, it is possible that I'll come to stay in that village again..."

At this, Sakura's heart sank. She looked down. Sasuke looked at her depressed face and started speaking again, "Though, I'll visit the village often." As he finished his sentence he saw Sakura's eyes sparkling again, the hopelessness gone.

"Ok" she said and then remembered something that she originally came to ask.

"You know, Sasuke that I've been living in a small apartment with my parents," she went on as Sasuke have her full attention because he had just finished packing," if I stayed with them, it will be a burden to have the baby in the house, considering that they always try to take responsibilities of my expenses even though, they know that I can live on my own now. They will undoubtedly try to take responsibility of her even though they are unable to."

Sasuke knew exactly what Sakura was trying to say. She was asking him permission to let her live alone with the child in another residence.

When Sakura saw him not speaking, she tried to clarify more," I meant, If you allo-"

Sasuke cut her sentence, as he replied, "then you can use one of the Uchiha household, better the place where I used to live."

Sakura stopped for a moment and then realized that Sasuke had given her permission to live in a separate place, but he also spoke that she should live in the place where he used to live with his family.

"But, I thought, it was concealed after the..."

"The Uchiha massacre, yes. But now that the new generation has started, they'll allow to open that place again." He stopped and then looked at his belongings. After a moment of silence, he continued," Sakura, if you don't want to, you can live somewhere else. I was just giving you a suggestion."

Sakura had seen the regret in his eyes as he saw her hesitation. Maybe he had some of the most beautiful memories of that place that still made him to go there and Sakura started living there, he'll eventually visit the place he wanted to see.

So Sakura's hesitation disappeared and that was how she told Sasuke that his plan was better and after a long and tiring procedure of getting the documents of the house after she had arrived at the village and leaked the information regarding her journey to the rain to the hokage she started living in the same place where a horrible crime had taken place decades ago. Many of her friends and family members asked questions about what just happened, when she appeared with a baby in her hand in front of them. She had told everything to her parents in detail while to some of her friends she told more than she told her parents and some she just told that it was Sasuke's child. And when she told them that she'll be living in one of the uchiha house, they all told her that was not a good choice considering that, that place was isolated and no one lived there. She'll feel herself left out of the lively parts of the village. She had told them that it was what Sasuke wanted and she won't have any problem with that. Naruto and Hinata seemed particularly concerned, even more than her own parents but she had eventually convinced them as well.

Sakura was happy to live and run her own home. That was until she had her first nightmare.


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura woke up with sweat covering her entire body. She was sure that she must had screamed as well, of which she had no memory but Sarada's crying proved that she was indeed screaming. In fact, she had been screaming in her nightmare as well, but for what reason, she didn't know because she had already forgotten due to the tension of Sarada crying continuously.

She then had to pick her up all night singing lullabies to her. Sarada was a hard child to manage or perhaps Sakura was not used to being a babysitter before, considering the fact that she had not even once was put in charge of the children ward and her work mainly revolved around the surgical ward.

As she paced inside her room, carrying the little baby who had started to doze off again, she started to wonder that now that her leave from the hospital would be ending soon, she had to manage with her work and take care of Sarada at the same time. Although, the idea of extending the leave was more than welcoming, Sakura knew that she was desperately needed at the hospital. Kakashi sensei had said, that everything was fine with her not working there for a few days. Even Shizune had said to take it lightly for a while, but Sakura knew just as anyone that the hospital worked fifty percent less efficiently when Sakura tried to slack off. So there was no chance that she'll be taking anymore of the days off. But then there was Sarada.

When she had thought about her, only one person came to her mind. Her mom. But the idea was not really in her favour. She knew that if she went to them, they'll start to argue with her about staying. And for that, she really didn't want to argue anymore. She had already lost her mind and got out of that house once, by retorting with her parents non-stop. Now, she didn't really want to replay that procedure again.

As she realised that Sarada had long fallen asleep, she carefully placed her down on her little bed. She felt thirsty and realised that she had been the entire time, but due to Sarada waking up she had even forgotten her thirst, most probably after having that nightmare. Maybe, that was what felt like being a mother. You forgot even your instincts.

Sakura made her way to the kitchen. She passed by the window through which the moonlight was coming at its full intensity. When she was near the kitchen, she heard a faint noise from the inside. Suddenly, her chakra came into her fist naturally, alerting her ninja senses and she was ready to jump on the intruder, whoever he was.

When she saw no signs of him coming out, she rushed inside herself, while turning on the lights with her quick reflexes. As she looked around, she realised that there was no life present in there other than herself.

Sakura made her way towards the konoha hospital, Sarada in her hands. In the end, she had decided to take Sarada with her. She could just drop the little uchiha at the babys ward. That way, she would be sure that Sarada is being properly looked after.

When she reached her destination and entered, the first thing that happened was nurses and Shizune approaching from God knows where and it seemed that they were all had their eyes on her child. Well, that was to be expected, considering the fact that she had came to this place with Sarada for the first time and had not really shown her to the hospital staff.

"Awwwwww~" Sakura heard Shizune's shrill voice as she took Sarada in her hand, "you're shoo cute. Aren't you?"

"Shizune-san, I was thinking of bringing her to the baby's ward, while I work here" said Sakura.

Shizune, who was playing with the little hands of the baby, looked up and said,"this is a good idea. She'll be looked after here better than anywhere."

Sakura had conceded with that idea, thinking that her little baby would be alone all day. But it was the only option so she had. Shizune saw Sakura nodding lightly. She stood straight and said,"I know it's difficult for you, considering your position here. So if you need any help with your shifts at the hospital, just tell me. I'll take your shifts. Ok?"

"No way, you already have a busy schedule, Shizune-san." Sakura replied with a smile,"but still, thanks for asking. It was enough for me, that you asked."

"Still, Sakura, ask me without any hesitation, if you want." Shizune said with a soft smile.

"Ok, but-" she tried to deny again, but Shizune had cut her off.

"Without any hesitation"

Sakura took a short sigh and replied,"ok, I will. Happy?"

"Good enough." She said with a satisfying face.

"So, I guess I better get going. There are many people who want to touch this little baby." Sakura said as she saw some of her juniors coming her way. She had already dealt with the nurses and two doctors excluding Shizune. She could not handle anyone anymore, as she thought, how exhausted she already was, having little to no sleep last night due to a certain nightmare she didn't even remember.

Sakura quickly made her way to the baby's ward, after excusing herself from Shizune, while avoiding the young doctors as much as she could. Next. She dropped Sarada and went to start her work, but not before she gave a last glance to her child.

It was not much difficult to adjust to her new life, although, she sometimes really wished that Sasuke had come and gave few momonts of his life to his family. But she knew better than anyone, that it would not be the case. For all she knew, Sakura had to adjust a life where she'll never see her other half again. Maybe, even for a life time.

" _what will I say to Sarada, when she'll ask about her father?"_ She had thought that many times but she never knew what she could say to the little uchiha. Moreover, when Sarada will grow up, she'll realize that her mama had no reasonable excuse for them to be not able to meet her dad, maybe she'll start hating her. The fact that she had uchiha blood running through her vains, she'll find herself more lonely and different from everyone else. If Sasuke had been around, maybe she had felt more secured. At least, that was what Sakura thought.

As she was thinking through all the problematic situations that could arise in the future, her mind went through the place she was currently living in. If she could say something about it, it was that the place felt weirder every passing day. And she could figure out that much, that it all had started after that nightmare a few days ago.

Actually it all had went something like that:

 _Sakura had only slept for half an hour and it was already morning outside. She had stayed up almost the entire night because of that noise she heard from the kitchen. She had been feeling uncomfortable ever since._

 _When she had arrived home the next evening, with Sarada, from the hospital, the first thing she did was to place her in the bedroom because she was sound asleep. Then she had went to the kitchen to grab something to eat, but had stopped unconsciously, even though there was nothing that time. But still she went in as subtly as she could. To her relief there was nothing out of ordinary. So she had just done what she came there to do. After that she was cleaning up the mess, she had herself created that morning while getting ready to leave. Everything went perfectly until she realized that she could faintly hear something from one of the other rooms of the house. By other rooms, meant the rooms she was not using. It was a fact that Sakura was the official owner of the entire uchiha house, but because her luggage was so less, she had only used three of the rooms and one bathroom that was in her bedroom. The other rooms where remained closed and never once she had opened them, when she had arrived there._

 _Now hearing faint noises coming from that part of the house was something that made Sakura curious. So she went in the direction of that continuous disturbance. And when she had reached one of the closed door. The sound was, undoubtedly coming from the inside. So she had to open the door. It creaked and lots of dust fell from above onto the floor. Luckily, Sakura had entered after the dust had settled to the ground. The noise had intensified there, but it was so dark that she could not even make out the size of the room. So she had to move carefully considering that she could only see about only 10 inches ahead of her._

 _As she had made her way more towards the source, increasing her hearing senses through chakra, her nose almost gave way to a sneeze due to the dust. But she had managed not to. She had reached another door soon and when she opened it, there was no noise anymore. It was like there was nothing from the start. Sakura had felt some inward horror, when she realized that she was standing in a bathroom, all those creepy and frightening stories she had loved to hear when she was young, rushing to her mind. She had made her way towards the shower area where a curtain hung, because most of the time it was the best place to hide bloody corpses or something like that. As she had reached there slowly and pushed the curtains away, as quickly as she could, her heart had jumped to her throat, when suddenly a black cat jumped out of the tub from nowhere. She had rushed out of that room, as quickly as she could._

 _That was one of her strange experiences at that house. There were many more and the thing was, that these kind of things started happening to her almost every night, when she had arrived from her shift. She heard noises and then they stopped suddenly, as if there was none from the start. And then, there was strange animals appearing out of nowhere. First, it was a cat, then she had even seen a snake and a big black dog in her backyard. There were even small scorpions, that appeared from any part of the house.(for that, she had used insects killing sprays everywhere, but to no avail.)_

She really wanted to talk about it with someone, but, probably, they'll either say that 'you're fatigued from all the work you do' or 'you're just imagining it.'


	4. Chapter 4

**DAY 1**

Sakura woke, disheveled, in the middle of the night. Her breathing came out heavily, with her heart racing with an abnormal speed. She had another nightmare. This time, she remembered the last parts of her gruesome dream. She was crying for all she knew. She was crying and trying to run but her legs were too wobbly to support her weight. From whom she was running from, she didn't know. But one thing was for sure, that the thing was purely evil.

Naruto and Hinata had paid her a visit, when she was on her holiday from work during the weekend. When she had gone and opened the door of her home, she was met with their bright smiles. But strangely, those smiles disappeared as soon as they saw Sakura. She didn't exactly know the reason behind their actions, but still had let that slide.

She had invited them inside and as she was serving them tea, was when Naruto had asked, out of nowhere. "Sakura-chan, are you ok?"

"Naruto, I thought, we had already greeted each other at the door, earlier." She said, jokingly, thinking that he was trying to know because, like everyone else, he knew that she had been working nonstop while, at the same time, running her family as well. But when she saw him not taking it for a distraction, she added, "don't worry. I'm totally fine."

To her surprise, Naruto didn't seem even a little of bit convinced. Even Hinata, who was talking before, more than Naruto, had stopped and was watching her with a concerned look. After a short awkward pause, he replied, "If you say so. But still, you should take care of your face. Those bags under your eyes are clearly visible, dattabayo."

Sakura had laughed nervously while saying, "Are those really?"

It was possibly the end of that topic. After that the conversation about other things had started again, including possible whereabouts of Sasuke. Naruto had told Sakura that Sasuke had supposedly been seen last at a place even farther than rain village. That news had made Sakura depressed. She was wishing all this time that may Sasuke visit her, but all he did was to move further away.

That evening, the clouds were rumbling with great noise as the thin zigzag lines of thunder flashed in the sky. Sakura rushed outside into the lawn to grab her, somewhat, wet clothes. She quickly collected them and was just making her way into the house, when all of a sudden, she felt someone pushing her from behind. She fell down, instantly while the clothes sprawled onto the ground beneath her. As soon as, she got her senses back, which was actually in a split of second, she turned her neck so quickly that it hurt. But to her dismay, there was nothing other than some plants behind her. Thinking that the culprit of this action was faster than her head turning, she collected herself and picked up the clothes from the ground and ran quickly into the shelter of her house, as the first drops of rain had just started falling.

At night, she was watching with half interest, some cartoons with Sarada, looking curiously at the strange characters on screen. She had been thinking the entire time, that how come they had started making these poor quality cartoons, while back in her time, the animation was something that attracted every little child of her age.

When she found her annoyance increasing more and more with each passing minute, she changed the channel to her desired station, NinjaTimes. She watched it for atleast an hour or two while Sarada who was playing with her bracelet when her focus was distracted from the screen, the moment those cartoons had disappeared. When Sakura came back from the world of TV, she realized that Sarada had fallen asleep for some time now. So she closed it and picked up the little uchiha baby, carrying her to the bedroom. After putting the child in her bed, she turned around to leave. Just then it happened again, the pushing. She almost fell but caught herself in midair and then turned to look behind even faster than before.

…

…

…

…

…

But there was still no one.

 **DAY 2**

For all she could say, she was unable to sleep the following night. Her mind was over-conscience about someone, other than her and Sarada, being in the house. Even though, she was pretty sure that someone WAS actually there, the strange thing was that she couldn't sense any chakra from that being. It only meant either that person was so much good at hiding his chakra that it almost felt like there was no one or maybe that person had long left the house. She considered the second scenario only 30% possible, the way, she was pushed twice within her home's territory.

Sakura laid quietly on her bed, nothing in particular on her mind, other than the strange events that kept happening at irregular intervals. In the end, she was even tired of just lying on her bed like that. So she got up and left her bedroom, after giving a last check on the sleeping figure of Sarada.

Sakura first wandered towards the kitchen, in search for something to eat. But she realized that she was not exactly feeling hungry, so she went out, without even looking in the fridge. Then she just paced in the living room, just looking up on the ceiling and wondering, what she could do exactly about the intruder. Maybe, she could report him to the police of Konoha. But the problem was that she had no idea about if the intruder was even a boy or a girl. So, maybe she should wait for him to show up again. By the look of antics of that person, Sakura could only imagine it to be a small boy or girl. But then there was another thing. The size of hands, which she had felt on her back, unmistakably belonged to a grown-up.

As she was walking randomly in the house, the door in which she had entered once came in front of her sight. Then, this thought came to her mind. _Maybe, he's hiding in one of the rooms I didn't open…_

Without thinking about anything else, she reached her hand out to twist the door knob and open that door once again. Even though it was past midnight, she wasn't afraid of that place that much. After all, all she had seen there was only dust and that black cat, which had, possibly left the place, from here, it came from. As the paper door slid open, she noticed that it was much darker in there, just like before. So before she got in, she went to grab a flashlight from one of the drawer in her bedroom, while leaving the door opened. When she came back with the flashlight, now on, she got in carefully, looking in all directions for the traces of the intruder.

As her flash circled around the room, which she noticed, was almost the same size as her bedroom, she saw that there was little to nothing present in that room. The floor was bare, no carpet covering the wood. There was an old, dusty mattress on the wooden floor, on the corner left of her. Then, there was a door, she recognized as the bathroom door. There was absolutely nothing there, other than these things. Now that she thought about it, when she came in before, she had never tripped even once. Now it made all sense.

She walked around the room, an assurance settled within her automatically that as there was not a single place there to hide, there was not a single possibly of someone hiding in the room, except that if that person had hid inside the bathroom.

She was reconsidering her thoughts to even think about someone in the house, because there was not a chance that someone entered that door, where she had seen the black cat, because the door had creaked so loudly before and Sakura was sure, if the person had entered there, she should've heard the creak, even if she was in her bedroom. But just in case, she went to open that door.

Her pulse was running quick as she subtly opened the door, even though, she was somewhat sure that there would be no one in there. In the end, it turned out that there was, in fact, no one. So she took a sigh of relief and turned around, before taking a few steps forward. When she was about to leave, she saw one thing more, which she had not noticed before. A picture hanging on the wall, a few inches away from the dusty mattress was placed. She went near it. The picture was dusty and she could not see it clearly.

Just when, she reached out to touch the picture, she felt the same cold hands again on her back. But wait… were they cold!? She was feeling them!

This time, the hands never pushed her away. Instead they grabbed her waist and before she had the chance to pull away, she was forcefully thrown on that dusty mattress.

The dust flew on around her. Her heart was thumbing so fast, now that nothing was making sense now. She remained still, for god knew how much, until she slowly moved her head left to right, looking around her. She realized that she was alone in that room. Her body started to shake furiously, as her heart beats quickened even more.

After a few moments of lying still in the mattress, she started to get up ever so slowly. Her mind was drawing a blank all this time while horror was creeping inside her entire body. As her hands moved, catching the thick dust in the process, something touched them. She looked down to see a book that seemed like a diary at the side of mattress. She grabbed it and opened the first page of the old book. There were only two letters written with a foreign writing.

 _Uchiha Itachi_


	5. Chapter 5

**DAY 2**

Her body was drenched in sweat and she had a hard time focusing on anything. Even, Sarada's harsh cry was difficult to be registered in her senses. All she knew was that she had to take some rest. But it was even harder to sleep than to stay awake.

Ino came to her after she was finally able to calm Sarada, who was resting her face on Ino's shoulder, her eyes puffy and mouth turned down after crying for so long. She had some tablets in her right hand, while the left hand was holding a glass of water. She sat on the bed beside Sakura and did her best to help her sitting up and not disturbing the sensitive baby. Sakura took both things from Ino's hands and swallowed the tablets, one after another, with her lethargic movements.

Sakura had come down with a high fever after that incident. She didn't know if it was caused by the fear of finally realizing, what was actually wrong with the place or having little to no sleep for the past few days and stressing herself with the workload. But either way, she knew about the source of her illness. It was her house.

When she was in that dark room last night, her body had started weakening from the moment she had entered. But she realized it only when she got up from the mattress and rushed out of the room, finally realizing that all the things that were happening until now were caused by something she never imagined, ghosts. How else, someone after pushing her all this time kept disappearing in thin air? And that even happened inside the house. Moreover, how come, she could hear different sounds in the house, but was unable to find the source? And when she thought she did, the noise disappeared.

Right now, she was feeling sick and she knew that she was unable to take care of herself anymore, so she had called Ino without any second thought. Ino had picked up the phone when Sakura thought that she won't pick up and had replied with a, "Sorry Forehead, I'm busy right now. We'll talk later."

Sakura had quickly said, well as quickly as she could in her drowsy condition,"Ino! Wait! I need your help."

Ino had detected the shaking in her friend's voice and replied with a frown, "Sakura, are you ok?"

"No. I'm not feeling well. I think, I'm gonna throw up any moment now. Please, come over. I need your help" Sakura had replied, even though she knew that the throwing up part was actually a lie. In reality, she was losing conscience and was worry for Sarada, after what she had just experienced a few moments ago. She could not even start to imagine the possibilities of many things going wrong if she fainted. She was just very afraid to leave her baby alone.

"Please look after Sarada…" and then all she knew was that everything blacked out, as she hit the floor hard.

Now here she was, being looked after by a worrying Ino and fighting with her high body temperature.

Even though, she was unable to strain her mind due a mild headache, but she was damn sure to leave this place as quickly as she could. Because, if there was one thing that the strongest Kinoichi of the leaf, Sakura haruno, was afraid of, were ghosts. And if those ghosts were, possibly a bunch of dead Uchihas, she'll run away anywhere for her dear life, considering the fact that, she had experienced the horrors of their kekkai genkai, first hand, more than once. Who knew what they would be able to do, when they were ghosts?

Sakura looked at Ino in her lying position from the bed. She was placing Sarada, carefully in her bed after she had calmed her down. Sakura felt warm every time Ino had that serious face and was trying to help Sakura any possible way. Even though, she had a nature that completely contrasted Sakura's and a bratty personality, she was still her very best friend. Because she had this kind side that she only showed to Sakura. Back, when they were young and fought over Sasuke, she still had that kind side, but Sakura, being too busy in rivaling with her, never noticed much. She noticed it deeply the first time when Ino had already given up on their first love and said to Sakura that she won't be her rival anymore but a best friend. After that, when Sakura had told her many times that she won't give up on Sasuke and wait for him. She waited and waited all this time while her heart broke regarding all the news of Sasuke's rebellious act. Sakura never showed her emotions in front of anyone, but miraculously, Ino knew her too well and came to her house every night and tried to comfort her. Sakura had always said that she don't need any comforting. But still Ino had nagged her with the topic of Sasuke and tried to tell all the good things he had done and that he'll never do anything bad, because he's our friend. In the end Sakura had ended up crying in Ino's arms. It was the first time, Sakura noticed that how gentle the embrace of Ino was. And when she had looked up at her face, she saw tears in her friend's eyes. Ino was her truest friend.

She closed her eyes again as many past memories flooded through her mind. Ino came close to her and sat down on her previous spot on the bed.

"Hey Sakura, how're you feeling now?" She asked with a soft voice.

Sakura opened her eyes and said while feeling her throat dry, "Better than before. What time is it?"

"It's almost six in the evening." As Ino said that, Sakura realized that she had missed her work today. Ino replied as if she already knew what was on Sakura's mind," Don't worry about the Hospital. I've already told them that you're not feeling very well and needed a holiday or two."

" Who did you contact?"

"Shizune-san of course"

"She must be worried."

"Yeah, she was. But I told her that it's not much serious and I'm taking care of you very well."

Sakura smiled at how Ino started bragging about even that. Ino smiled back in return. But soon the smile on Sakura's face disappeared and replaced with a serious look. She started to sit up straight and Ino automatically darted her hands out to help her sit. When Sakura was sure that she was comfortably seated and it was not much straining or triggering her fever, she started talking, "Ino, where is the book, I had with me earlier?"

"I had put it on your sitting room table when I dragged you here." She replied.

"Can you bring it to me?" Sakura asked, although she knew her answer.

"Sure" said ino and got up from the bed and disappeared from Sakura's sight as she exited the room. Sakura waited for her about five or six minutes. She was thinking of what exactly was taking her friend so long? After full ten minutes, Ino entered the room empty-handed. Sakura looked at her curiously and saw a very prominent frown on Ino's face.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Ino didn't reply for whole five seconds, just frowning and standing near the bed staring at nothing in particular. When Sakura noticed that she wasn't going to talk, she asked again, "Ino? What is it?"

Ino looked at her and replied," Sakura, I'm damn sure that I placed your book on the table."

"So?" she said, fearing the most possible thing that could happen or rather already have.

"But it's not there now…"

That was exactly what she had predicted and now that Ino had said it, her mind was telling her that she should look in that room again. But she was too afraid to do so. It's not like that you know that a place is haunted and you still go there. But still she was a bit excited to get her hands on the diary of Sasuke's dead brother. People had said that he was such a person that even in is adolescence; he had a mental level of a Hokage. She just wanted to read what that man had thought that made him so different from others and more than that, she wanted to know that how could someone can influence so much on Sasuke that he had loathed him for eternity and when he knew what that person had actually done for him from someone he didn't even know, he started to love him so much that he even tried to kill his friends. The friends whom had he spent so many years with. Itachi must be a very influential person.

In the end Sakura had decided to pay a vist to that room yet again. She started getting up, to which Ino ran towards her and stopped Sakura from getting off the bed.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing? You are weak, forehead." Ino said while forcing Sakura to sit back. Sakura was focing Ino away as well, "Let go, Ino. I just wanted to go in the other room."

To that, Ino said," Why?"

"I think, the book is in there." Replied Sakura, still struggling to break free of Ino's grip.

"Ok! Ok! Just stop getting up. I'll grab it for ya." Said Ino and suddenly, Sakura stopped struggling anymore, sitting on the bed, her legs down.

"You will?" she asked.

Ino stood straight and replied," Yeah, just tell me where that 'other room' is?"

Sakura feared a bit to let Ino enter that room that even she feared to enter but she also felt a bit relieved that she would be saved from the fear herself in her current state. Moreover, it's not like Ino knew about anything that Sakura had thought about the place and her experiences here. So she replied but with a bit of hesitation, "It's the left most door in the sitting room…. If you will please…. a-and also take the flashlight from this drawer…"

Sakura pointed out and Ino opened it and picked the flashlight from the mess of things. Without even giving a second glance, Ino was out of the room. Sakura sat still on her bed for a few moments but then realized that she was feeling weak again, so she just lied in her bed and waited for Ino.

A minute or two passed, as she just laid there, eyes closed and then, she turned her head opposite to the place where Ino was sitting before. That was the moment when her eyes grew a whole centimeter wide as she looked at the thing on her side table….. The diary….

Sakura sat up quickly and darted out from her bedroom, not minding her condition, thinking that she'll be okay since she had taken the medicines. She reached the door of the dark room and quickly opened it. A sudden trembling started in her body as an unknown fear crept in her guts. The room was dark as always and silent as well, as it had always been. Sakura started walking into the room, but stopped when her foot had not even completed its first step. She backed away, because she thought that something was not just right. Why was she not feeling weakened anymore? Why was the temperature around her felt like it had dropped a few degrees? And where was Ino?

Slowly, Sakura closed the door again with her shivering hands. Then she started moving back from that place. She backed and backed away, until she was at the door of her own bedroom. She looked inside and found the book still there.

The next thing she did was to reach her phone and dialed Ino's number. She didn't know why she was even doing this. Maybe she was too afraid because of the sudden stillness in the air, like the time had stopped somehow. As she stood there waiting for other line to maybe connect somehow. And finally it did, as a very familiar voice spoke, "Hey Forehead! Wassup?"

"I-Ino? Where are you?" she asked her breath leaving her body.

"At home, Why? Needed something?"

Sakura canceled the call and threw the phone on the bed with a jerk and grabbed her head tightly in both of her hands. She was totally screwed.


	6. Chapter 6

**DAY 3:**

"Sakura, can you bring me the patient 234's documents?" Tsunade, the head of Konoha Hospital asked as they stood in the surgical ward.

"…"

Averting her eyes from the patient she was examining, Tsunade looked directly at Sakura, who seemed to be in a daze, staring into nothingness.

"Sakura? Hey? I'm asking YOU." asked Tsunade again while approaching the pink haired woman.

Sakura physically snapped and looked at Tsunade. "I'm sorry, Shishou. Were you saying something?"

"What's wrong with you? You look terrible now that I closely look at you." She said as her eyes looked at Sakura's face skeptically.

"It's nothing. I just wasn't able to sleep last night. Don't worry, I'll be fine." Sakura tried to assure her but miserably failed as her own face betrayed her words.

Deep inside, she herself knew that she wasn't fine at all. She had experienced things that made her think that she was going mad. She knew if she told anyone, they would consider her that as well. But she couldn't do anything on her own and needed someone to help her. Before she had never thought that she needed anyone's help for anything. She could do everything on her own. But now, there is a situation that she could never have imagined.

Of course, there is an option of changing home but it would be difficult to change it right away. She have to search for a suitable living place and that would require a search for about a week or two and then she have to think about the cost, considering the fact that she was living in the Uchiha compound for free and her hospital pay was not enough yet. It was never enough for any doctor. There was that and then she had to inform Sasuke as well which requires her to meet him personally. She didn't want anyone else to know about her situation yet.

Nonetheless, she was frightened and tired of what else to come whenever she got home. She was also extremely worried about Sarada's safety. She was only of around seven months yet, not even a year. She was delicate and was in great danger in the house.

"Sakura?" said Tsunade as she let out a sigh, "Really, you are yet in another daze. Tell me, what is it that's bothering you? I'll help you out."

Sakura looked at Tsunade while thinking what she should say to her, "Shishou…"

"Yes?" Tsunade awaited her to continue.

"…I…I'm having issues parenting Sarada while working here." She shared her secondary issue.

"Why? Is she hard to handle?" Tsunade asked.

"No… Just that, due to my position here, I'm unable to give as much time to her as a mother should." Sakura replied while averting her eyes.

"Sakura, if you want I can lose your schedule a bit. If this was bothering you, you should've told me earlier." said Tsunade while frowning a little.

"No Shishou, it's not like that." She replied, "This hospital needs my service. I can't leave this kind of work for my personal matters. It's just that, if there was someone whom I could entrust Sarada for some time while I try to adjust and stabilize my living, then it would be a great help. But I don't even know who to ask."

At that, Tsunade started to laugh while Sakura looked at her with confused expression.

"Sakura, I think you forgot that Shizune is in charge of children ward. You may find it surprising but she was just asking me the other day that if she could bring some children to her home. I really gave her a few words on her naivety. Now I think she's the best person to give Sarada considering that Sarada has already been very much attached to her. That way, you can see your daughter in the hospital every day. But this whole stabilizing your living mustn't take much longer. A mother in the end is a mother after all. Sarada can't stay away from you for too long."

"Thanks shishou. It's a great help." Replied Sakura and for the first time in many days, she found herself a bit relieved. At least her daughter won't be in danger anymore while she come up with a plan on what to do.

"But Shishou, I need to talk with Shizune-san first."

"Don't worry about that. I'll talk to her myself." replied Tsunade, "now get back to work and bring patient's 234's documents."

"Yes!" She replied and went out to bring the report.

Sakura gave a tearful farewell to her little baby that evening and went back to her home. Her legs were trembling by the time she reached the front door of the deceased Uchiha's Patriarch house. Now there was no one but her in this vast mute area.

She took out the keys to open the door but as she tried to insert it, the keys didn't enter.

Why? because her hands were trembling as well. It was difficult for her to insert the key into the lock.

After much struggle, she opened the door while dreading to find something out of order yet again. But there was nothing but silence and everything was the way she left in the morning. The lights were on and her bedroom and kitchen were a little messy.

While making her way towards the kitchen, she peeked in the corridor's far left side. The door was closed.

She entered the kitchen and started searching for something edible from the fridge. She found some leftover cake she brought for Sarada a few days ago. It was the best thing to eat as she was too tired to make or heat up something over the stove. She took out the cake plate and fetched a spoon from the counter and made her way to her room.

While going back, she peeked again at that door, still closed.

She sat on her bed and started eating while tuning on the television. The channel was already NinjaTimes so she just started staring at the screen.

After about fifteen minutes, she realized that she was extremely tired, so she put the cake plate on the side table while turning of T.V. She lied down in her bed as her eyes closed immediately as her head relaxed against the plushy pillow.

Then, she fell asleep not even giving a second thought to what might be the future consequences of letting her guard down like that.


	7. Chapter 7

**DAY 4:**

The chirping of birds woke Sakura the next day. The first thing that crossed her mind when she woke up was her work. It was almost afternoon then and the light of sun coming from the window was too strong.

She looked at the clock and realized that it was about eleven then and she had almost slept for more than twelve hours. That was enough to make her panic and she rushed out of her bed and made her way towards the bathroom. An image of angry Tsunade flashed through her mind while she was taking a bath. It was all that made her rush things even more.

Packing her belongings into her purse and fetching her lab coat and skipping the breakfast, she made her way to the front door. As she opened the door, Shizune with Sarada in hands greeted her sight.

"Wow-"exclaimed Sakura,"Shizune-san, what are you doing here. I was just coming to the hospital."

Sakura suddenly started thinking many ways as to why Shizune might be here. Maybe, Tsunade had sent her to inquire about her sudden absence or maybe, Shizune wasn't able to handle Sarada, so she came here to return her or maybe, Shizune was sent to inform her that she wasn't working at the hospital properly (a warning before firing that is).

"Sakura, what do you mean by that?" asked Shizune, making a funny face, "today is Saturday. It's a day of for you and so is tomorrow. I guess you aren't looking at the calendar nowadays."

"Oh!" realization of her stupid actions hit Sakura and she started to laugh at herself.

"I can't believe I forgot my own holidays." replied Sakura, "Shizune-san, please come in."

Shizune made her way with Sakura in the sitting room, where Sakura asked her to sit while she entered the kitchen to make tea.

"Sakura, you look better than before." Shizune said a bit louder, "I guess, you were finally able to sleep properly."

"You think so?" asked Sakura, "I didn't even look at the mirror today but I feel like I'm fresh. I guess it really was the lack of sleep."

"Not just sleep. I think you were worried about Sarada way too much. I'm glad that you asked me about taking her in. it gave the positive results."

"Yeah, I think so too." Agreed Sakura while she entered the sitting room again, "Sarada cries too much. She didn't bother you, did she?"

"Nope, not at all." Replied Shizune, "in fact, she's so quiet that I got worried last night. She didn't cry even once."

Sakura felt a little confused hearing this kind of thing about Sarada. For her, it was that Sarada cried all the time, in the morning, in the evening and even at night regardless of time.

"Strange…." mumbled Sakura as she looked at Sarada's peaceful face.

A sudden realization hit her as she noticed how Sarada was not even a bit uneasy to look at her own mother while in someone else's hands. Did that mean that she was attached to Shizune more than Sakura?

"I think the tea is ready now, let me bring it to you." Sakura said as she heard noise from the kitchen and disappeared there once more.

Shizune and Sarada stayed there for the next hour and then gave their farewells to Sakura and left.

Before leaving, Shizune had asked her to take the baby for the holidays if she wanted because she must be missing her. But Sakura had declined, saying that she was busy with some personal issues in these holidays and it would be better if Sarada was not with her for some more days.

After Sakura was alone once more, she looked at the clock and saw that it was almost one now. She made her way into the bedroom again and sat down on the bed. She looked at the drawer of her side table and stared at it for a few minutes, thinking over various steps that she should take once she open the drawer.

In the end, she was ready and opened it. The black diary was still there. Sakura had half expected it to be gone.

She took the diary into her hands and slowly opened the page once again. The two letters, written with much delicacy appeared.

 _Uchiha Itachi_

She opened the next page and found words and sentences cramped for such a small page without any sense of where the paragraphs were starting or ending but the writing was still as graceful as the written name.

 _I am starting this diary at the age of ten in hopes of sharing my feelings to a non-living since there is apparently no one else to whom I can share my feelings with, at least not with the people around me. I am just a child after all. They say, I'm naïve and small but the fact that I can comprehend with whatever is going on is still there and they don't believe that._

 _I listen to the voices behind the walls where I'm not allowed and even go to the places in secrecy where I'm not invited yet. I can't help it because I want to know. I want to understand the regard of wasting human lives and starting wars. I want to understand that why there is even a need to fight when we all are living on the same ground. Isn't it enough to live peacefully that we have to start a war to end our own lives? I think that this is Human folly._

 _Humans are foolish creatures with egos like mountains and the mountains don't break unless there is a huge earthquake. For me, this earthquake is in the form of a revolution. A revolution could be by any extraordinary means. It could be war or any other way. But for the people of this foolish world, the earthquake means only war._

 _I hate the people starting wars. I hate their egos and I hate these wars._

 _I want to live peacefully and grow old and tell beautiful stories of the world to others. But I believe it's just a dream in the end…_

Sakura heard low grumbling of the clouds outside. Her mind drifted to the outside world. She had read only two to three pages of this diary and she had become so much confused that she wasn't sure whether to continue reading or not.

It was a fact that she never really knew about Itachi other than that he killed his clan, spared his brother's life and ran off to join Akatsuki and become an S-rated criminal.

After Sasuke had returned to the village when Kakashi had started his reign over the leaf, his attitude towards his dead brother had bewildered Sakura. Even Naruto was acting as if he was sorry for whatever Sasuke had done. That time, she had tried to do research over Itachi's case but his documents were placed in restricted section of Hokage's library and even though, she tried to take permission, she was lectured by Kakashi to not indulge in a business she won't be having anything to do with.

Now when she is reading his diary, she was starting to believe that Itachi was actually a good person and his actions had left an impression that could neither be termed as positive or negative or even neutral.

Sakura closed the diary and put it back into the drawer. The weather outside was getting darker by each passing minute. She looked at the clock and realized that it was only around two in the afternoon.

She got up and started her way to look in the mirror. As she stood in front of it, she realized that how much weak she had become. No wonder everyone was asking whether she was okay or not. Even in the hospital, some of the patients she didn't know had asked her about her health.

Suddenly, Sakura's eyes caught something she didn't saw earlier. There was a small prominent bruise on her shoulder blade, almost hidden under her clothes. She stripped her shoulder to get a better view and frowned. How could she get this bruise without even realizing? The last time she checked her appearance in the mirror was when she was showering yesterday and there was no bruise that time and she wasn't hurt physically after that.

Sakura touched the bruise and instantly a shot of pain ran through her entire shoulder that made her eyes squint. She got into the bathroom to look for some medicine from behind the mirror to apply over it.

As she took out a tube and closed the mirror, a short scream escaped her lips as she saw her own face with her eyes tearing blood and smiling insanely at her own self. Her hand lost its grip over the tube and she ran out of the bathroom and out in the lawn. The rain had already started and she started to drench while breathing harshly.

First, it was only a feeling, and then she started hallucinating; now she was seeing things as gruesome as this. She didn't even know what this was all about and who exactly is responsible for this. Was it the ghosts of dead Uchihas or was it something more resentful than that.

A distant laughter was heard as she stood there in the rain. That laughter came undoubtedly from within the house. She looked towards the entrance door only to realize that she had left it wide open and there was something in the house that she could clearly see from where she stood.

Her eyes went wide as she saw someone appearing from the left side of the corridor, the side where THAT door was located. He was wearing male clothes and his untied hairs were as long as her own, terminating till half of his back. He walked very slowly, so slowly that he took only one step with every two seconds. He went on and on and on and disappeared in her bedroom.

Sakura stood there frozen on her spot, completely drenched in the cold rain.

Time passed and she stood there for God knows how long, praying that the man she just saw would come out of her room. But he didn't.

The rain had long gone and now it was sunny again, though its intensity was far less than before. Sakura took a step forward not blinking at all, then another step and another until she was standing at the entrance. Now she was here, her heart rate had increased.

She stood there for some time and then started her way forward once again. Her hands were full of chakra as she was very close to her room's door.

She entered the room and saw it empty of any life. The bathroom door was wide open and so did her drawer.

There was no sign of any black diary there.


	8. Chapter 8

**DAY 4 (THE NIGHT):**

Tonight, Sakura wasn't planning to sleep. Instead, she was sitting on a sofa in the living room trying to understand what exactly was going on and why? And how she'll handle the situation?

She had been going crazy when she saw the man that afternoon and now that she thought about it, she was sure that it was unmistakably Itachi because those long black hairs only belonged to him in Sasuke's home. But the question is that why he was here? And what he'll get by disturbing her? Was it because he didn't want her to live in this house? If that was the case then she better get going because she or any other was no match for a ghost.

But something deep inside kept telling her to get that diary again. She wanted to know about Itachi more than ever when she saw Sasuke's and Naruto's reaction that day. Mystery was her favorite Genre after all. But getting the diary meant that she had to visit that room again which was the main problem. Right now, she was too afraid to enter even her own bedroom but maybe if she entered there in the morning then it could be less scary. At least, that was what logic told her. Tonight, she'll just stay in the living room and maybe read some of her medical books regarding animals because they were more interesting than human biology.

The clock struck 1 in the night. Sakura's eyes were almost closed as sleep was slowly drifting into her mind. It was that time when suddenly some kind of screeching noise reached her ears. Sakura's senses alerted and she sat up straight. The screeching was coming from THAT room.

At first Sakura just thought to ignore it and sit just where she was, thinking that the noise only wanted her to come near it and she wasn't just going to comply as it wishes. Instead, she stood up and went into the kitchen to make herself some ramen.

As she started cooking, the screeching got louder and louder but she just ignored it and as the ramen was cooking, she went to the fridge to take out a bottle of Sake.

The screeching got so loud that it hurt her ears but still she just ignored. She thought that she was doing just the right job because every time she do what her nature tells her to, something goes wrong. Now that she is immersed in her own work and not looking out for something, she'll get her own way.

Though, that thought suddenly got out of her mind as the Sake bottle burst and its glass hit the floor with a huge crashing sound. Sakura shrieked and jumped a few steps back to get at a safe distance from scattered glass pieces.

Then she heard it again, the laughter. This time it was too near. Near in the sense that it really felt like someone was actually laughing in her ears. She quickly turned around and was sure that this time whatever it was must be standing right beside her.

Of course, she was right…

It was really beside her and it was laughing on her face with eyes like two bloody splotches and teeth, well actually she was unable to see its teeth. Maybe because there were none even though its mouth was wide open.

Sakura's eyes were so wide that she was tearing.

"Wha-"it was all that came out of her mouth just like a whisper. That thing stopped laughing and looked at Sakura with a terrifying face, its mouth still open.

" **Sa-ku-ra… Sa-ku-ra…"**

She looked in horror as grave voice came as that thing started to say her name. Then it stopped again.

Sakura fell back onto the floor in hopes of getting away from that thing half wishing for her to just pass out. As she looked at that thing from the floor, her wish actually came true when she saw the thing completely.

It had no body.

"Sakura?"

"Hey? Are you listening?"

She opened her eyes in the blinding light of the sun.

"Ino?" she saw Ino hovering over her, "What happened? Where am I?"

"You are just incredible Forehead!" Ino exclaimed as she gave a hand to help Sakura stand up, "We are in the garden. You totally forgot that we came here to pick up flowers for my research lab and here I was thinking you were going to help me."

"Wait, I was in my house just now. How come I got here?" Sakura was thinking about the worst case scenario already. It might just be another illusion.

"Yup, you were in your house and then you passed out." said Ino with her chirping voice.

"But-" Sakura felt more confused but was cut off by Ino.

"Forehead, stop asking questions, it's so annoying." Ino turned around and started walking away.

"Hey, wait! Where are you going?"

"None of your business. I've had enough already." She heard Ino's voice becoming distant and then she wasn't there anymore.

Then she heard her door bell ringing.

"Where is this coming from?" she thought and started to go in the direction of the sound.

Shizune with Sarada came into view. Shizune was ring the doorbell nonstop and Sarada seemed to play with Shizune's hairs.

"Strange, maybe she's not home right now. And here I thought I'll let her see her baby today as well." Shizune was mumbling to herself, "Oh well…"

Then she turned around to make her way back. Sakura stood there still as Shizune just passed her by not even sparing a single glance and strangely Sakura never tried to call her even once.

She reached the front door herself and opened it. Everything was just the way she had left it in the morning. The kitchen and the bedroom were a bit messy.

She heard someone crying there. The crying was coming from that door. Without even thinking, she just went there to open the door. The room was lit by the sunlight coming from a large window. There were bookshelves on every wall. A red mattress was placed on the left side and there was Itachi sitting there with his back pressed against the wall.

He was crying.

His stressful face drenched in his own tears made Sakura's heart heavy. She felt a sudden urge to sympathize with this man. So she went near him. Before she could crouch in front of him, her eyes landed on the picture on the wall.

It was just a picture of art but the art was terrible. Why? Because it was the laughing face of that thing she saw in the kitchen.

Her heart thumped loudly within her chest when a pair of hand pulled her back onto the mattress. Her head collided with something hard. When she focused in front of her, she realized that she was staring straight into Itachi's eyes. He wasn't crying anymore, just staring back with expressionless face.

A light headache started to form after the impact of her head colliding with Itachi's legs. Suddenly, Itachi reached his hand forward pass Sakura to grab something on the other side. She looked there to find his diary and saw that he was unable to touch it maybe because she was in the way, so she just grabbed the diary to handover him. But as soon as she touched the diary, she heard a familiar grave voice.

" **Sa-ku-ra…."**

She looked back at Itachi only to find that he wasn't there anymore. In fact his body was only there, the face was replaced with the thing painted in the picture on the wall.

That was all it took for her to pass out.

She woke up yet again but this time, there was absolutely no light. It was pitch black where she lay and the only thing she could hear was her own breathing. She felt the soft mattress beneath her and realized where she was. She was here yet again. And she also realized that she was dreaming just now but it felt so real that she remembered it crystal clearly.

Now that she was back into her own world and was actually in a situation that she just wanted to cry, (maybe, she was already shedding tears) there was only one thing on her mind and that was to leave this place forever. She didn't belong to this world. She belonged to the world outside this haunted place where her friends were waiting and worried about her. Her baby was waiting for her and she was sure that Sasuke must also think about her sometimes. She really wanted to leave this and she would, that was what she thought as she stood up from the dusty mattress and started to walk in the direction she assumed the door to be.

Her body felt too heavy to stand on her own feet. But she wanted to get out of there no matter what, so she just kept on moving.

As she moved forward, she heard footsteps behind her but she didn't look back to see and kept on moving. Soon there were hands yet again on her waist and they were commanding her to stop. She complied because she was in no situation to break free. But still she didn't look back.

A voice came into her left ear.

" **Sakura"**

And she was now sure who it was. She didn't want to look at its face but now she was brave enough to ask whether her life was in danger or not because that was all she could do.

"What do you want?"

"… **."**

There was no reply to her question.

"I said what do you wan-"as she said, she turned around to face that thing but wasn't able to complete her question.

It was Itachi whose face was only a few centimeters away. He was looking at her with his impassive eyes glinting red.

And suddenly Sakura felt her face heating up as she realized how close she stood to this person, who looked almost identical like Sasuke. She forgot for a moment that this was the thing that was making her life so miserable until he said it again.

" **Sakura…"**

An image of that monster ran through her brain and now she felt too scared to be near him. He was quiet, not even breathing and Sakura was quiet too but breathing harshly.

In the end however, he answered her question.

" **Sarada"**

And then he moved his head and did the most unpredictable thing.

A black tongue got out and licked her forehead exactly where her mark of hundred seal was. She closed her eyes and when she opened it, she was standing in the kitchen, just near its door.


	9. Chapter 9

After that day, Sakura moved in with her parents and took Sarada from Shizune. Her parents were very glad for her to take that decision. She had claimed that it wasn't because she wanted her parents to help her but instead, it was only because she was missing them which in reality was actually half true.

The moment Sarada's name came out from that sinister mouth; she had made her decision to leave that place for good. It was fine with her even if that thing tried to strangle her to death, but she couldn't bear to put her innocent baby in danger.

…..

Days passed and then weeks, Sakura's routine was now better than before. She always left Sarada with her mother and went off to the hospital. When she came back, she played with Sarada and talked with her parents. Sarada scarcely cried as Shizune had commented, which became clear to Sakura about the possible reason for previous behavior of her child.

By each passing day, her health got back to normal and she found her lost agility once again. She had almost forgotten the feeling of being terrified that she felt in that house after about a month. Maybe, it was difficult to forget because she never shared her experiences there. But sooner or later, she had to be answerable to one person and that was Sasuke. She didn't tell him yet and she could hardly believe that he kept up to date with her and Sarada's whereabouts. The only option was for her to tell him when he'll pay his visit in the village.

***End of Part-1***


End file.
